I Died Upon Your Breath
by Mephilver-land
Summary: Post game, Solaris never existed. But what of its peices? A shadowy form unable to settle, unable to be seen, for most, never heard. It flowed through the earth, through its trees and buildings and waters and mountains. SilverXMephiles. T for now may have smut later on
1. Chapter 1

I died upon your breath

Post game. Several things are different.

The future is bright. Perhaps it is even greater than the peaceful present.

Seeing as Solaris never existed, Blaze never came to Soleana, and therefore never met Silver.

Solaris never existed.

Solaris never existed.

But what of its pieces? A shadowy form unable to settle, unable to be seen, for most, never heard. It flowed through the earth, through its trees and buildings and waters and mountains.

Silver loved the earth more than anything.

To Silver, the world belonged to him, like a child he must protect. It was old, it was eternal. It was beautiful and perfect. Silver loved the earth.

This being the case, the hedgehog often found himself near it. He longed more to be in the forest, surrounded by nature, where he could grasp on to every breath and truly love this planet. Often he would talk to the trees, and rocks, and the wind, and sometimes, he would swear, they answered.

Today was a day as such. Silver wandered a murky wood, seeming not to have any particular path. Many trees were fallen, which would be sad to Silver, but he knew these had fallen naturally- by animals, or by storm.

However, today there was something particular in the air, a smell, harsh and muggy. An indisputable smell of smoke.

What was the saying? Where there is smoke, there is fire. And with that thought in mind, Silver flew as quickly as he could to the fiery source.

A flame spread across about 3 small trees, nothing big. But big enough to upset Silver greatly. The smoke choked him, and the light blinded him. He turned away quickly and set his mind at rest. Relaxing everything within his conscious mind, he allowed himself to let the unconscious mind take over. Water from deep within the earth struggled at hardened ground, then broke through. The water flourished and pooled in the air above his head, was lifted, and then dropped, upon the trees, dousing them instantly.

There was barely a moment of relief until he sensed the sizzling of a fire douse change into a muffled scream.

Have you ever heard the wind blow so harshly against the door it frightened you? The initial sound terrifies, but there is something that seems to haunt and chill you to the core for long after.

Silver felt the very wind speak into him and chill him and grip him with rage and pain. It was not words, just a scream, a moan. So low, he could barely hear, yet he was ringing deaf in his ears.

The voice formed more clearly, forced, and aching.

"_Please…"_

The word was a whisper and a scream, sending silvers heart racing again.

"_Help… please…"_

A trillion thoughts raced through Silvers mind. Oh god, I killed the fire, it was alive and I killed it. I _killed_ it.

"_Form… help..."_

Silver looked up from the ground, to the charred remains of the trees. "U-um, hello? Voice? Can you hear me…?" He called out, quiet at first, then becoming firmer and louder towards the end.

"_form… ashes… fire… help…"_

"But... I don't know what you mean…? Ashes?" Silver frowned, looking down at the ashes of the burned trees. He walked over, hesitated briefly, then took up a handful of damp ash. "Okay, I have some ash… what do I do now?" He asked into the air, unsure if he were insane.

"_Burn… it… fire…"_

Silver looked down at the mushy pile in his hand and wondered if it could even burn. Something not only wet, but burnt to coal as well.

However, Silver felt responsible for this voice. He must have hurt it by putting out the fire. Or perhaps the voice _was _the fire. Nevertheless, he must help anything of nature. And he would.

The hedgehog found his way to a small clearing and dug a firepit, lining it with rocks and dried wood. After much effort and frustration, he managed to light the logs.

"_Burn… ashes…reform…"_

This voice had been following him for an hour since Silver put out the fire, repeating the same few words. 'Burn, fire, form, reform.' Honestly, he wasn't even sure he wanted to help this voice anymore. If he didn't have this overwhelming sense of obligation to this consciousness, he would have just went back into town.

He lets out a hefty sigh and after lets the fire heat up. The sun is beginning to set now, and it was getting chilly, so the fire truly was a blessing.

He looked down onto the pile of ashes, which he was keeping on a large leaf. He had once heard that ashes were very good for growing some plants and flowers. Maybe burning these ashes could help the trees?

Now smiling, the hedgehog picks up the leaf and gently pours the ashes into the hungry flame.

End chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Now smiling, the hedgehog picks up the leaf and gently pours the ashes into the hungry flame.

At first the reaction was underwhelming. Silver watched the fire cackle, and a feeble puff of smoke sputtered above the flame for a brief moment. However after the initial puff came a massive blast, which blew his spines back and drew out a stunned gasp. The thick smoke massed around the fire was a bluish grey, the very sight of it made Silver think "sickly".

Covering his mouth to protect his lungs, the hedgehog gathered himself to investigate. Apparently, the viscous smog was enough to extinguish his fire. Out of its ashes had formed a dark hedgehog, who was crumpled upon the ground. Silvers shock was more than clear, his subsequent gasp caused him to inhale a very unpleasant amount of smoke. He let out a harsh, painful cough to clear his lungs, but the smog was like glue inside of him, and every cough drew in more gas, choking him.

Silver was beginning to lose sight before feeling a slow tugging at his throat. It felt as though someone were drawing a long piece of fabric out of his esophagus and lungs through his mouth. And suddenly, he could breathe again. He took in rapid, deep breaths, making sure his lungs were clear once more.

Slowly settling, Silver looks up to see the dark hedgehog kneeled beside him. He looks weak, and sickly. An understatement; he looked as though he would drop dead at any given moment. He is mostly a dark gray, with the exception of the stripes on his spines, which were the same grey as the smog that had clogged his lungs. His muzzle is also greyish, and he simply had no mouth at all. His eyes were a dull, lifeless green that looked positively toxic.

Silvers eyes widened with overwhelming curiosity.

"y-you… were you, um, that voice? The one who told me to burn the ashes…?" Silver asked meekly.

The sickly looking hedgehogs eyes drifted slowly, looking off to the side of Silver and focusing on nothing in particular. They seemed to flicker back and forth between two blades of grass.

Silver felt greatly unsettled.

"Um, excuse me?" He frowned nervously and sat up. "Sir? Are you okay?" He waved his hand in front of the older hedgehogs face. The darker flicked his focus to Silver, piercing a hard look directly into his eyes. Silver flinched backwards and let out a small noise of a shock. He looked away nervously and mumbled. "Please don't do that…"

He frowned and thought for a moment, looking over the grey one. He took a steadying breath and held out his hand. "U-um, im Silver. Hi."

The older stared at his hand for what felt like an eternity to Silver before mirroring his action. All of his movements were jagged, slow, jerky and awkward. Even when he was still, he was still a bit shaky, occasionally letting out a small shiver. Despite this, Silver smiled, determined to be on good terms with the new being. He took the others hand in his own and shook it gently, trying not to spook him. The other hedgehog seemed mostly unresponsive, but never broke eye contact.

"I… am Mephiles…" the older hedgehog said with a heavy breath. The voice alone was enough to make Silver shudder. But at least he knew he could communicate.

Mephiles's eyes slowly drifted again landing back on the patch of grass. "Um, hey, Mephiles? Are you okay?" Silver tilted his head slightly. He moved to sit next to the other, crossing his legs and focusing on the grass also. However, there wasn't much to look at.

Frowning, Silver turned to Mephiles again. "Mephiles?" he giggled a little at the sight of the other, whose eyes were now closed. "Are you asleep?" He whispered.

After little deliberation Silver moved in front of the older hedgehog, taking his hand between his own and looking it over. It was cold and stiff. Frowning now, Silver dropped the hand and moved to his face. He prodded the others face gently, which was also cold and dead feeling. He shuddered and grimaced, then held his hand by his nose. He relaxed as he felt the other breath steadily.

Silver carefully laid the hedgehog onto his side and set to rekindling the fire.


End file.
